Amanda

Amanda asked Lisa See:

I'm reading Lady Tan, and I'd assumed the characters were using Mandarin. The main character indicates that she uses "he" to refer to a baby in the womb and this subtlety wasn't lost on her listner. However, in spoken Mandarin there is no difference in "he" and "she"; they are both "ta." The difference is only in the written character. I'm curious: is this is an oversight/mistake? And if not, how did she say "he"?

Lisa See Such as astute question, but I think you've answered it yourself. In conversation the word would be "ta," as you point out. That's what I was thinking when I wrote that scene. However, you're right in the sense that this distinction isn't conveyed in English in the text. While I didn't explain this in this book, I know that I have in a couple of my other novels. Sometimes I don't want to slow the reader down with too much detail. Interestingly, in the novel I'm writing now, just yesterday I had a scene in which I was comparing written characters about men and women. Wife -- woman with a broom, and so on.

More Answered Questions

C. asked Lisa See:

Lisa, I don't have a question--just want to rave about your last book, The Tea Girl of Humminbird Lane. It was for a book club and I thought to myself that it would not interest me. How wrong I was! I ended up ordering Pur tea on Amazon and paying more than I ordinarily would. So looking forward to this next book. I just finished The Girl With Seven Names and it was fabulous--Have you read it?

Michaela Neuenhaus

Michaela Neuenhaus asked Lisa See:

Dear Ms See, are you a tea drinker? Have you tried different sorts? What flavours would Yunnan tea have to set it apart from the rest?

Emily

Emily asked Lisa See:

Hi Lisa! Thank you for writing novels that are just lovely, and incredibly inspiring. Reading your novels has been constant encouragement that I should pursue writing my own family’s history. I come from an intricate yet beautiful Chinese family; as my grandmother's life is (sadly) coming to an end, I can't help but want to tell her story. How did you go about your research to develop your works of hist. fiction?

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